In the past week, we’ve already seen what happens when people try to safeguard the internet using the most general guidelines possible. At this point it’s easier to accept that the internet is way too specific and convoluted to try and regulate it using only basic generalization.
But hey, it’s worth another shot, amirite?
Tumblr, the social media site used by gif fanatics and awful teenagers, recently restructured their adult content policies for mobile apps. Accoriding to Buzzfeed, in tumblr’s rush to try and G-rate their entire site, they ended up blocking the tags for “gay”, “lesbian”, and “bisexual”.
The reason you see innocent tags like #gay being blocked on certain platforms is that they are still frequently returning adult content which our entire app was close to being banned for. The solution is more intelligent filtering which our team is working diligently on. We’ll get there soon. In the meantime, you can browse #lgbtq — which is moderated by our community editors — in all of Tumblr’s mobile apps. You can also see unfiltered search results on tumblr.com using your mobile web browser.
In the sake of fairness, I did end up checking out the tags that were blocked and . . . Well, turns out there’s a pretty decent amount of porn on them. So maybe they have a point. And they are working on refining the system, so good on them.
However, I offer two counterpoints: As Buzzfeed points out, tags like “rape” and “asshole” are still unblocked, and I’m not sure if you noticed this, but rape is a whooooooole lot worse than gay or lesbian.
Also, what exactly do you think people do with their cellphones? Have you ever actually checked out a person’s cellphone pics? It’s like a personal repository of genitals. Sex is a huge driving force behind technological advancement, so you might as well embrace it: A pretty friggin’ large percentage of people who use cell phones and tumblr are using them to get their rocks off. Isn’t that right, Carlos Danger?
[Image via Dannahan]
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